There has been many times where we have talked about the importance of having secure passwords to access to your email accounts or social networks. That’s why today we want to talk about other information to which we have to pay special attention to: credit card pins.
In a study conducted by DataGenetics, in which 3.4 million pins were analyzed, these pins foreseen by thieves 25% of the time. A very high percentage, when considering the number of different passwords that can be used by card holders. The question is though, why is it so easy to guess these numbers?
The authors of the study have developed a list of the 20 most used pins. 26.83 % of those 3.4 million PINs were on this list.
20 Pins That You Should Never Use for Your Credit Cards
- Â 1234
- 1111
- 0000
- 1212
- 7777
- 1004
- 2000
- 4444
- 2222
- 6969
- 9999
- 3333
- 5555
- 6666
- 1122
- 1313
- 8888
- 4321
- 2001
- 1010
One of the facts that most surprised us was that 11% the 3.4 million pins collected in the research was 1234. The study also warned of the large number of passwords beginning with 1 and 9, something associated to that people use the year of birth as PIN. For example, 1972 was the password for 1% of people.
The authors also informed us that the combination used the least amount and is the most secure is 8068, which only showed up 25 times. Until now. After presenting this data, we don’t suggest changing your pin to this number. It’s no longer as safe as it was.
 Want to Increase the Security of Your Pin?
- Don’t use a sequence of numbers: 1234 or 6789
- Don’t use a date or information that can easily be figured out, like your birth year or that of your child
- Use unique pins for each of your cards. If you create a list to keep track of your pins, don’t carry it in your purse
- Never repeat numbers: 5555 or 9999
- Look at the list of the Top 20 Pins, and never use a combination of those numbers
If you need help to remember all of your pins, the key manager of Panda Global Protection 2014 will be your greatest ally. You only have to remember the master password, and it will recall all the necessary data to access each service.
Panda Security specializes in the development of endpoint security products and is part of the WatchGuard portfolio of IT security solutions. Initially focused on the development of antivirus software, the company has since expanded its line of business to advanced cyber-security services with technology for preventing cyber-crime.
3 comments
Good info..!! Will definitely keep in mind..!! 🙂
I love interesting data like this, it’s something we can use and educate people with.
Unfortunately all the chatter regarding pins is dismissed as your paranoid or skeptical,
personally I believe you should be. your identity is sacred your movements are private and should be protected by the highest degree of security, remember this ,
Education comes from reading the FINEPRINT, EXPIERANCE comes from not. Memorize a strong pin also I believe that pins should be 5 numbers as the computations are much higher.